Bernard Ghartey is a Principal at Norrsken22, where he leads West Africa investments for the African tech growth fund. With over a decade of experience in venture capital, investment banking, and telecommunications strategy, Bernard has been a key player in the African venture capital ecosystem since 2019. Prior to Norrsken22, he was Head of Investments at Acuity Venture Partners, an early-stage fund, and served as Senior Associate at I-DEV International in Kenya. His tenure at Vodafone as Senior Strategy Specialist saw him driving the company’s WIN-2020 strategy. Earlier in his career, he worked in investment banking at IC Securities, raising capital for blue-chip clients across multiple sectors. Bernard graduated Cum Laude with a bachelor’s degree in Management Information Systems from Ashesi University.

Odunayo Eweniyi is co-founder and General Partner at FirstCheck Africa, a pre-seed and seed fund that invests in high-growth tech startups with at least one female founder. She is also the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer of PiggyVest, Nigeria’s largest digital savings and micro-investment platform.

Andrew Alli is a business leader, institution builder and adviser with 35 years experience, of which 25 years has been investing in, and managing businesses in Africa. He is a trained engineer, successful investment and development banker and investor that has been involved in well over USD10 billion worth of investments in Africa.

Andrew started his career in management consulting and investment banking in the UK. He joined the International Finance Corporation in 1996, where he worked for 11 years, gaining experience in energy and telecommunications investments at its headquarters in Washington D.C. In 2002, Andrew was chosen to lead the IFC’s operations in Nigeria. Four years later, he was appointed to lead the institution’s operations in Southern Africa.

In 2008, after a stint as the co-founder of a private equity fund, Andrew was appointed President and CEO of the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC), which he led for ten years. Under his leadership, the AFC delivered over $4.5 billion in investments across 30 African countries,  becoming a  leading African financier of infrastructure.

In 2019, Andrew  joined SouthBridge Group, a pan-African investment bank, as Partner and Chief Executive Officer of the firm, which he left in 2022.

Andrew also has an extensive directorship experience, serving on the boards of several leading organisations across two continents.

Ire Aderinokun is an investor, entrepreneur, and software engineer with a decade of experience building and backing technology ventures in frontier markets.

As an invited Google Expert in Web Technologies specialising in the core user interface technologies of HTML, CSS, and Javascript, Ire has authored widely-read technical content and spoken at dozens of conferences around the world. She co-founded Helicarrier, a Y Combinator-backed blockchain company for Africa that built some of the continent’s earliest crypto-fintech products, and is passionate about how technology can support global financial inclusion.

Ire partners closely with founders as an advisor, investor, and operator who understands the full startup journey. She brings a founder’s empathy and an operator’s discipline to early-stage investing, with a particular focus on mission-driven companies across Africa and other emerging markets.